So one thing I know I've never been good at is CPUs and motherboards. I can read the info but I don't take it in, and often it sounds a little like gibberish to me. The following pic is my current PC, I assume that's enough info to get started:
Basically I want to spend around $400 CAD on a new motherboard and CPU, preferably quad core, and every time I check for myself I get a bit lost. Best sites to link from for me since I'll probably buy from them are canadacomputers.com, tigerdirect.ca, or newegg.ca. I'm looking for something with support for two video cards, and still have space left on it for either a sound card (if on board is no good) and/or internal wireless internet doohickey. Thanks in advance
Ah also I'll be getting Win7 with this upgrade, it doesn't like my current mobo's onboard sound so I've had to stick with XP. Also will be upgrading the ram at a later date.
Second edit: I'm using a CoolerMaster HAF 932 full tower so size of the motherboard is no problem, in fact the bigger the better, I despise micro ATX. If you can recommend a CPU fan that'd fit in that price range as well that'd be nice
Pryda is right. Do you want AMD or Intel. It is totally a up to personal preference. I would recommend AMD because of a better price to performance ratio and AMD processors use less power. GO GREEN!! :rolleyes:Plus my mom's best friend works for Intel and she said to not buy their stuff because they treat the employees like crap.
Correct assumption about DDR2. DDR2 and DDR3 are NOT interchangeable. The key slots are in different places, so they won't even come close to fitting in the opposite type of MB.
About the Mhz support, I'll explain a bit more. MBs support only up to a certain a maximum RAM frequency, for instance 1600Mhz. If you were to install RAM that can be run at 2000Mhz, it will usually be auto clocked lower by the MB. Otherwise, you would have to change it yourself in the BIOS (if you can get it to boot). Now there will also be a minimum RAM frequency, for instance 800Mhz. This number is much more important. Say you are trying to save money and got a stick of ram that runs at 667Mhz. It won't work, unless you can get it to post to BIOS, where you will have the opportunity to overclock the RAM, but then you run the possibility of frying the RAM completely. Just stay within the min and max RAM frequencies.
Look for 2x PCIe 2.0 slots like he said.
As for coolers, you can fit literally every single kind of cooler in that case, the only limitations will be from the MB layout. Your RAM slots might be too close, or your Northbridge heatsink might be too tall. Something like that.
Sound cards are pretty much not really needed anymore. I don't think they make a noticeable difference. Just find a MB with 8 channel on board digital, and you should be good to go.
I'll throw some ideas out there for ya. I mixed it up a bit with one low, one mid, and one high price/performance so you can mix and match for your price range. If you've got anymore questions, let me know.
Most modern new mobos are loaded with more than 2x PCIe 2.0 x16 slots specially if it is a xfire or SLI board. Asus is probably your best bet on the mobos. Dunno what the real "difference" is between the AMD and INTELS but from what I've gathered Intel is expensive and usually hot as in it will need more cooling power. AMD is much cheaper but doesn't have hyper-threading and is also cooler so it wont need as big a cooler. If you do go AMD you might only want to invest in a Phenom II x2 because the x2 and x3 models are quad core models only the two or one extra core is shut down, and you have like a 73% chance to unlock those two or one extra core(s). If you do decide to go Intel expect to pay 200+ i know the core i7 860 Lynnfield (socket LGA 1156) is like 260 and runs at 2.8GHz and is quad core and comes with hyper-threading. If you go Intel some good cost effective coolers would be Tuniq Power tower 1200 it has a nice Blue LED and is aparrently very good for cooling them and the Thermaltake contac 29 is also a good one. if you wanna spend a little more 77.96USD on newegg for the Corsair H50 a simple and effective all in one water cooler. Just unmount the back 120mm fan and screw in the corsair one and then thermal paste it onto the cpu and run it, it will work fine. The problem here is your memory im not sure you can use DDR2 on DDR3 boards, although i could very well be mistaken so don't quote me on this one. most new board also have enough slots for you to put in a PCIe x1 sound card, and if you want a wireless card you can get a usb internet connector they go up to Draft-N which is the best so depending on what type of connection you use. I'll edit in a moment with some suggestions for you and links for you to follow. nvm archie posted good stuff listen to him i learned everything from him by just having a general conversation of these forums he knows what hes talking about.
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I would go onto newegg and look at their bundle deals, save you money and you already know it's compatible, you'd just have to check your ram to see if it will be compatible with the motherboard. Isn't AMD coming out with a 6 core or something rediculous?
Thanks for the replies :D, clears up a few questions i had. Guess I'll need to get ram at the same time then =/. Definitely going AMD, never had anything but, and have had good experiences with them. Gonna go take a look at those links now.
And Dirty I think I know what you're talking about, guy we live with mentioned some processor in development that's basically one nice large core (5-6ghz or something nuts like that) with a handful of smaller, say 1.0ghz, if that makes sense. Says it's aimed more towards gamers. I'll ask for his source and if he had one and I'm not just passing on hot air I'll post it here. Also I looked for the bundle deals before posting here but everything was really kinda bad and small mobos, I couldn't find the actual bundles. I've seen them before though.
Yeah, the Thuban is supposed to go on sale in April!!! Phenom II x6!!
It is supposed to have HyperTransport 3.0 and 2.8Ghz is expected to be the highest speed CPU at release. And it also is stated to be backwards compatible with AM3 and AM2+ motherboards! I'm sure you'll need a 24pin and 8pin minimum motherboard to run the thing though.
I'm looking forward to 2011 and 2012 though with the x12 and x16 core processors coming out then.O_O
Yeah, the Thuban is supposed to go on sale in April!!! Phenom II x6!!
It is supposed to have HyperTransport 3.0 and 2.8Ghz is expected to be the highest speed CPU at release. And it also is stated to be backwards compatible with AM3 and AM2+ motherboards! I'm sure you'll need a 24pin and 8pin minimum motherboard to run the thing though.
I'm looking forward to 2011 and 2012 though with the x12 and x16 core processors coming out then.O_O
What? Ddid u say x12 and x16 as in 12 core, and 16 core processors? As in four times the computing power of a quad core....?
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i like its looks alot and its said to keep air cool but im not so sure the 800 price tag really is worth it but sometimes i get what i want and i may just want that case lol
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It looks cool, but absolutely not. If you're that interested in blowing nearly $1k, save it on the case and put it towards some awesome videocard/CPU or a ton of ram, and get a nice $100 case.
Except for the fact that it is so friggin big that you have to go out and buy different extensions for your PSU and it requires 24" SATA cables but they only ship it with 18". There is also virtually no room to improve cooling, and you can't go completely water cooled with the thing.
Waaay too much money for how many faults are in the case.
I would much rather buy something along the lines of XClio 2000 or Thermaltake ArmorPlus. Or hell, why not the Antec 1200?
Okay so since you guys are against it let's see show me some cases that are -200 that are easily aircooled or watercooled I am looking to put on either a v10 or a v8 so I can oc easy to 4GHz with some extra fan slots so I can add some fans for extra cooling. I would like to be able to fit in maybe a 5870 maybe even a 5970 not sure yet...but I'm definetley going amd phenom 2 x2 3GHz so I can try unllockiing the two other cores make it quad and easy oc it. Gunna use 8 gigs of ddr3 running at 1600MHz with a gigabyte board that has sata3 and usb 3 slots 2 of each. 1tb on a wd black caviar hdd maybe a 60gb ssd to boot off of. And a blu-ray player I already have a nice hd screen so that won't be needed.
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Sounds like you've got just about everything sorted out.
Look at the 3 cases I pointed out. Antec 1200 is awesome, but not quite as awesome as the other two. The Antec case is also about 3/4" thinner than the others. The reason I point this out is because with the V8 or V10 cooler, and if you put a fan on the case door, it will probably be a tight fit. The other two are well over 9" wide, so I foresee zero fitment issues. And all 3 cases have incredible airflow. So much, that with a simple cpu cooler, you will not need water cooling. Yet they all still have the capabilty of going water cooled. Expecially the Armorplus, with the tray on top of the case.
You better have an awesome power supply for all of those components.
BTW, I highly doubt that you'll get one of the 550BE to 4.0Ghz. You'll likely get to a point, 3.7-3.9Ghz, that it will require a jump of voltage of somewhere around 1.0v to get just 0.1Ghz. That is when it is just completely not worth it, especially if you want any kind of long term use and stability. Just my opinion.
Do you think id be able to get the phenom II x4 965 to 4GHz? And do you think its a good build?
I dunno? What exact MB and PSU are you going to use? What case? What cooling solutions aside from your CPU cooler?
There is a lot more that goes into overclocking than just what CPU it is.
I'm at only 3.8 fully stable with a 120mm core contact cooler, a 550w rosewill psu, a board designed for oc'ing, 2 140mm case fans, 3 120mm case fans, and 1 80mm back of the cpu slim case fan. That's 7 fans total. I've been playing with voltages and bios settings for a few months now, and I just barely hit 3.8 fully stable 2 weeks ago. Sure I can hit 4.0Ghz, but it isn't 100% stable. I don't want to risk the parts I dropped $600 on. Stability is key.
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Basically I want to spend around $400 CAD on a new motherboard and CPU, preferably quad core, and every time I check for myself I get a bit lost. Best sites to link from for me since I'll probably buy from them are canadacomputers.com, tigerdirect.ca, or newegg.ca. I'm looking for something with support for two video cards, and still have space left on it for either a sound card (if on board is no good) and/or internal wireless internet doohickey. Thanks in advance
Ah also I'll be getting Win7 with this upgrade, it doesn't like my current mobo's onboard sound so I've had to stick with XP. Also will be upgrading the ram at a later date.
Second edit: I'm using a CoolerMaster HAF 932 full tower so size of the motherboard is no problem, in fact the bigger the better, I despise micro ATX. If you can recommend a CPU fan that'd fit in that price range as well that'd be nice
Correct assumption about DDR2. DDR2 and DDR3 are NOT interchangeable. The key slots are in different places, so they won't even come close to fitting in the opposite type of MB.
About the Mhz support, I'll explain a bit more. MBs support only up to a certain a maximum RAM frequency, for instance 1600Mhz. If you were to install RAM that can be run at 2000Mhz, it will usually be auto clocked lower by the MB. Otherwise, you would have to change it yourself in the BIOS (if you can get it to boot). Now there will also be a minimum RAM frequency, for instance 800Mhz. This number is much more important. Say you are trying to save money and got a stick of ram that runs at 667Mhz. It won't work, unless you can get it to post to BIOS, where you will have the opportunity to overclock the RAM, but then you run the possibility of frying the RAM completely. Just stay within the min and max RAM frequencies.
Look for 2x PCIe 2.0 slots like he said.
As for coolers, you can fit literally every single kind of cooler in that case, the only limitations will be from the MB layout. Your RAM slots might be too close, or your Northbridge heatsink might be too tall. Something like that.
Sound cards are pretty much not really needed anymore. I don't think they make a noticeable difference. Just find a MB with 8 channel on board digital, and you should be good to go.
I'll throw some ideas out there for ya. I mixed it up a bit with one low, one mid, and one high price/performance so you can mix and match for your price range. If you've got anymore questions, let me know.
Heatsinks/fans
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835207004
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608014
Motherboards
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130250&Tpk=770-g45
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186168
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131402
CPU's
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103650
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103644
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727
♣Strength and Honor♣
And Dirty I think I know what you're talking about, guy we live with mentioned some processor in development that's basically one nice large core (5-6ghz or something nuts like that) with a handful of smaller, say 1.0ghz, if that makes sense. Says it's aimed more towards gamers. I'll ask for his source and if he had one and I'm not just passing on hot air I'll post it here. Also I looked for the bundle deals before posting here but everything was really kinda bad and small mobos, I couldn't find the actual bundles. I've seen them before though.
It is supposed to have HyperTransport 3.0 and 2.8Ghz is expected to be the highest speed CPU at release. And it also is stated to be backwards compatible with AM3 and AM2+ motherboards! I'm sure you'll need a 24pin and 8pin minimum motherboard to run the thing though.
I'm looking forward to 2011 and 2012 though with the x12 and x16 core processors coming out then.O_O
What? Ddid u say x12 and x16 as in 12 core, and 16 core processors? As in four times the computing power of a quad core....?
♣Strength and Honor♣
♣Strength and Honor♣
Waaay too much money for how many faults are in the case.
I would much rather buy something along the lines of XClio 2000 or Thermaltake ArmorPlus. Or hell, why not the Antec 1200?
♣Strength and Honor♣
prob a 5770 or a 5850.. or if you nvidia maybe a 9800GTX or a 260
I'm using a 5770, love this thing. Perfect price for what you get.
Look at the 3 cases I pointed out. Antec 1200 is awesome, but not quite as awesome as the other two. The Antec case is also about 3/4" thinner than the others. The reason I point this out is because with the V8 or V10 cooler, and if you put a fan on the case door, it will probably be a tight fit. The other two are well over 9" wide, so I foresee zero fitment issues. And all 3 cases have incredible airflow. So much, that with a simple cpu cooler, you will not need water cooling. Yet they all still have the capabilty of going water cooled. Expecially the Armorplus, with the tray on top of the case.
You better have an awesome power supply for all of those components.
BTW, I highly doubt that you'll get one of the 550BE to 4.0Ghz. You'll likely get to a point, 3.7-3.9Ghz, that it will require a jump of voltage of somewhere around 1.0v to get just 0.1Ghz. That is when it is just completely not worth it, especially if you want any kind of long term use and stability. Just my opinion.
I dunno? What exact MB and PSU are you going to use? What case? What cooling solutions aside from your CPU cooler?
There is a lot more that goes into overclocking than just what CPU it is.
I'm at only 3.8 fully stable with a 120mm core contact cooler, a 550w rosewill psu, a board designed for oc'ing, 2 140mm case fans, 3 120mm case fans, and 1 80mm back of the cpu slim case fan. That's 7 fans total. I've been playing with voltages and bios settings for a few months now, and I just barely hit 3.8 fully stable 2 weeks ago. Sure I can hit 4.0Ghz, but it isn't 100% stable. I don't want to risk the parts I dropped $600 on. Stability is key.